Menzies is a relatively safe Liberal seat in the northeastern suburbs of Melbourne. The seat is held by Kevin Andrews, who served as Minister for Workplace Relations and Minister for Immigration in the later years of the Howard government.
He has held the seat since 1991, and is seen as a member of the hard right of the Liberal Party. His failed challenge to the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull in late 2009 was a key move in bringing down his leadership.
Jagajaga is a safe Labor seat in the northeastern suburbs of Melbourne. The seat covers the suburbs of Ivanhoe, Heidelberg, Eaglemont, Rosanna, Viewbank, Yallambie, Montmorency, Eltham, St Helena and Warrandyte.
Jagajaga is held by federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin. Macklin previously served as Deputy Leader under Simon Crean, Mark Latham and Kim Beazley from 2001 to 2006, but was pushed aside by Julia Gillard before Labor won power in 2007.
Scullin is a safe Labor seat in the outer north of Melbourne. The seat is held by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, who has held it since 1986. Prior to that it was held by his father, Harry Jenkins Sr, who had also served as Speaker for the first 30 months of the Hawke government.
Suburbs in Scullin include Morang, Mill Park, Plenty, Thomastown, Lalor and Epping.
Hotham is a safe Labor seat in southeastern Melbourne. It covers the suburbs of Clarinda, Heatherton, and parts of Springvale, Cheltenham and Oakleigh.
The seat has been held by Simon Crean since 1990. Crean, a son of a senior minister in the Whitlam government, served as a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, then served as a senior Labor frontbencher throughout the Howard government’s eleven years. He served a tumultuous period as Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003, and faced off a fierce internal party challenge to his hold on Hotham in 2006.
Goldstein is a safe Liberal seat in southern Melbourne, covering wealthy suburbs along the eastern shore of Port Phillip Bay, including Brighton, Sandringham, Hampton, Beaumaris, Ormond and Bentleigh.
The seat is now held by senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Robb, who won the seat in 2004 after the retirement of former minister David Kemp.
Higgins is a safe Liberal seat in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Higgins has a history of being held by senior Liberal politicians, including Harold Holt, John Gorton and Peter Costello. It was held by Costello from 1990 until his resignation in 2009. The ensuing by-election was won by the Liberal Party’s Kelly O’Dwyer, who defeated Greens candidate Clive Hamilton, in the absence of a Labor candidate.
Higgins covers the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Toorak, Malvern and Glen Iris.
Kooyong is a safe Liberal seat in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. The seat is known as a ‘blue-ribbon’ Liberal seat, and has previously been held by two Leaders of the Opposition and a Prime Minister. The seat was held by John Latham, who served as leader of the United Australia Party from 1929 to 1931. The seat was then held by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, followed by Andrew Peacock, who served as Opposition Leader on two occasions during the Hawke government.
The seat is currently held by outspoken Liberal moderate Petro Georgiou, who is retiring at the upcoming election.
Melbourne Ports is a Labor seat on Port Phillip Bay immediately south of the Melbourne CBD. The seat covers Caulfield, St Kilda, Port Melbourne and a number of neighbouring suburbs. The seat is held by a 7% margin for the ALP, and contains a number of varying areas. There is a high Greens vote in St Kilda, while the Caulfield area is a straight Labor-Liberal race.
Batman is a Labor seat in the inner north of Melbourne, held by cabinet minister Martin Ferguson. While the seat is considered Labor’s safest seat in the country, with a 26% margin, there is a substantial vote for the Greens, particularly around Northcote at the southern end of the seat, where the Greens substantially outpoll the Liberals. While the seat will probably remain with Labor in 2010, this seat could be vulnerable to the Greens over the next decade.
Casey is a marginal Liberal seat on the eastern fringe of Melbourne. Casey covers parts of the Yarra Ranges and Dandenong Ranges as well as Melbourne suburbs such as Croydon. While Casey has a history of being a bellwether seat, the seat has been held by the Liberal Party since 1984. It has previously been held by Bob Halverson, Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Howard government’s first term, and Michael Wooldridge, John Howard’s Health Minister who transferred from a neighbouring seat in 1998. The seat has been held by Liberal frontbencher Tony Smith since 2001, and is held by a 5.9% margin.